


My Kingdom Awaits

by NyxEtoile, OlivesAwl



Series: Tales From the Tower: The Next Generation [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, Gen, Multiple Pairings, POV Multiple, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-05 14:33:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13389855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NyxEtoile/pseuds/NyxEtoile, https://archiveofourown.org/users/OlivesAwl/pseuds/OlivesAwl
Summary: It felt strange and momentous, but also really nice. The Avengers were going home.





	1. The Banners and the Bartons

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, what have the Grown Ups been up to?
> 
> Eight conversations with some of our favorite aging superheroes.

When Ada had headed off for college, Violet had been sad and cried, but had been confident in Vision and the rest of the team's ability to watch out for her. Ada had been raised by a village since she was six, and sending her off to live in the Tower under the watchful eye of half of that village had seemed natural.

Now Neil was slowly packing for his journey to college and the loss was hitting her much harder.

He was going to Cornell, to do a graduate program in geology. Despite a decade in Wakanda, he had never fully mastered the language, much more comfortable with English. So they'd realized a couple years ago that, if he wanted a college degree, he'd need to go somewhere English speaking. He had debated skipping college entirely, or deferring for a few years. But when they'd started making inquiries and discovered his Wakandan credit could qualify him to skip undergrad and go directly to a masters degree, he'd decided he wanted to try. Cornell's program was highly rated and he had fond memories of Ithaca, so it had seemed a good fit.

Violet's only consolation was that she would be heading out with him for the first month, to help him get settled and to pick up his therapy dog. He had never had a formal therapy pet as a child, though he'd loved the local cats, but one of his teachers had suggested it to help him with the transition and Neil had been very excited at the idea. He already had a dozen pictures of Ebony, a black lab mix, on his phone and was reading up on dog care with his usual enthusiasm.

Ada and Vision were home for the summer, so the house was busy. “Hey,” Bruce said one night trying to cheer her up. “Maybe there are upsides to not being outnumbered.”

She laughed, because she knew he was trying to help. "I know he's eighteen and six feet tall, but he's still my baby."

“I know,” he said. “And I know how hard you worked to get him where he is.”

"He worked harder." She smiled and leaned on him as he put an arm around her. "I'm very proud of him. But I'm going to miss him. And worry."

Speak of the devil, Neil wandered in and plopped down on the other end of the sectional. “You’re gonna fret all summer, aren’t you?”

"If I start early I'll be calmer when the time comes," she explained.

“Actually I was. . . kind of hoping you’d stay a while.”

Careful not to give too much away she said, "Well, I'm going to stay a month. . ."

“I don’t think that’s long enough.” He tapped his hands on his knees, each finger striking precisely, with a beat between each tap. It was like Neil’s jeopardy clock.

"Okay. How long would you like me to stay?"

Tap. Tap. Tap. “Christmas?”

She paused, glancing at Bruce. "Honey, is something on your mind?"

“Do you think maybe I should go to Columbia like Ada?” he asked instead.

"We would have to start all over getting your Wakandan credits approved. Plus I'm not sure if they have a geology course that would interest you. And you were concerned that New York City would be overwhelming."

“But in Ithaca I’m going to be all alone.”

And there is was. "You're afraid you're going to be lonely?"

“I think it's a completely logical supposition.”

"It is," she agreed. She looked at Bruce again. "Could you give me and Dad a minute to talk?"

“Sure.” He hopped up and strolled out.

Bruce was watching her when she turned to look at him. “I wouldn’t want to live alone in that big house, either.”

"I know. And it's a lot of changes all at once, which is hard for anyone." She blew out a breath. "So. What do you think?”

He sighed. “Tony told me Ruby asked to go to high school at Edie’s school in New York. Stay with the Barneses. I don’t blame her—I think it’s hard for them to fit in as they get older.” 

"I remember the high schoolers I taught. That much upheaval, in addition to hormones and social structure challenges. . ." She shook her head. "When we first came here we talked about it like it was temporary. Moving when the new team came wasn't right. But. . . maybe now is the right time?”

He moved his head back and forth, like he was considering. “Maybe we should talk to the others. I know Wanda and Zev are bothered by the lack of a Jewish community as their kids get older. And they miss his family. Maybe it really is time.”

"I'll call Wanda and see if they can come over for dinner." All of them going would be nice. She and Wanda had grown closer raising the kids.

They had the dinner the next night—Neil being Neil, he was very anxious to know the resolution. He even volunteered to supervise the herd of children playing outside so the adults could talk over drinks after the meal.

"You are vibrating with whatever you want to talk about," Wanda commented, accepting her cup of coffee from Violet. "Is something wrong?"

"Not wrong, per se." She took her seat and felt Bruce settle a hand on her back. "But we did have something serious to discuss.”

“We’re all ears,” Zev signed, then added “Well, we’re mostly ears.”

"Neil told us last night that he's worried about going to New York alone. He's afraid he'll be lonely, and we think that's a valid concern, given the crowd he was raised in. We are thinking about moving back to Ithaca with him. Full time. But we wanted to speak with you first.”

Wanda looked over at her brother, and Violet imagined they were having a telepathic conversation. “We probably need to move as a unit,” Zev replied in the mean time. “But personally, I would love to go home.”

"I know you have a lot of family," Violet commented.

Pietro turned and looked at Ora, who nodded. Wanda turned back to Violet. “Okay. We’re in.”

She blinked and looked at Bruce. "That was much too easy.”

“We've actually been discussing it ourselves. We’d like for our children, particularly the oldest two, to go to Hebrew school. We’ve talked about sending them back to stay with Zev’s parents, but. . .” She shrugged. “It would be even better just to have our whole family together, in the same time zone.”

"You're not worried about the government anymore?"

"I suppose there is always a chance the winds can change again. But with the new team doing well and more enhanced people popping up. . . I feel less exposed. And I have faith that Wakanda will be here to welcome us back if we need it.”

“The complex does have those giant ‘hulk proof’ walls, too,” Bruce said with a chuckle.

Wanda smiled and gestured. "You laugh, but we don't know what powers the other children will develop. I'd feel better training them near the others."

“Agreed,” Pietro said. His oldest had started to manifest powers.

"Well, I guess that's settled, then," Violet said, still amazed at how easy it had been. "I'll tell Neil and call. . . Darcy, I guess?" She looked at Bruce. "For help organizing?"

“Seems the best place to start,” he replied.

"Great." It felt strange and momentous, but also really nice. The Avengers were going home.

*

They’d made a lot of jokes over the years about Clint and his recruitment tendencies. He absolutely had the least amount of charm and people skills, but he nonetheless had a particular ability to convince skittish enhanced people to listen to their better angels.

The joke had absolutely become a job, because he was spending his days behind a desk, going through profiles of potential recruits.

He wasn’t alone in his task. They’d formed a committee of sorts. Himself, Lani, Darcy, Sharon, and Raf, whom they’d added because being alive over a millennia gave one highly insightful observations into human nature.

"You know," Lani said thoughtfully. "I am very good at my job. And I _still_ have trouble figuring out if some of these are real or just a strange form of schizophrenia."

“Well, it’ll be pretty obvious in face-to-face meetings,” Clint replied.

"That's probably true."

Sharon groaned and tossed the file she was reading into the maybe pile. "Why does everyone get super strength? How many people who can lift a bus does the world need?" Reaching over to take a new folder she added, "I'd kill from someone who can turn invisible."

“You’d likely be looking for someone very wealthy,” Raf said. “Likely a thief of some manner or other.”

"That is what Cassie and her father did with their versions of invisibility," Lani agreed.

"How about turning into shadows?" Darcy asked. She was laying on the couch on the other side of their little office, her youngest daughter sleeping on her chest. Emma was teething and feverish and would, apparently, only accept her mother.

Clint looked up. “Do you have that?”

"Vigilante team." She held out her folder and Lani hovered over to take it from her. "His partner makes some sort of energy knives."

Now that had Clint’s attention. “How solid is the profile?” The files themselves—boxes of them—had come to them courtesy of Maria Hill, who was working for a covert European agency that had filled in some of the gaps left by SHIELD. Apparently they maintained a Gifted List, just like SHIELD had. The information within them ranged from thorough to scant, so it was a crapshoot.

Lani was flipping through the file. "Better than most. A bunch of eye witness statements, mostly from street kids and drug dealers. Sounds like they've been helping out runaways and homeless. Interrupting drug deals, chasing off potential pimps."

“Oh, it’s like the Maximoffs, part two.”

"There's a distinct vibe," she confirmed.

“Put that in the yes pile,” Clint said. The yes file was for people warranting in-person investigation. 

Lani hovered over and did so, picking up a few more files to give to Darcy. They went back to their files and she volunteered to do a coffee run. "Though I recommend we call it a day in another hour or two. Or the details will start to blur.”

“Coffee will probably only get me that far,” Sharon said. She looked at the files, then asked, “Anybody feel a little deja vu? Reminds me a little of our panicked tear through the paper SHIELD files during the Ultron mess.”

"Only you and Clint did that of this group," Darcy said. "I was figuring out evacuation logistics and Raf and Lani had, like, real jobs or something.”

“I was hiding in a cabin in the woods,” Raf said. “Not because of Ultron, that’s just where I lived.”

"I was making obscene amounts of money helping CEOs get over their messy childhoods," Lani said, writing down coffee orders.

"Fine," Sharon said. "I am having deja vu.”

Darcy’s phone rang, and she smiled after she answered it. “Hi, Violet. They’re reminiscing about Ultron, you want me to put you on speaker?” Whatever Violet said made her laugh. “Thought so.” There was a pause, and then, “Wait, _what?_ ” 

Everyone else's head turned to look at her. "What's wrong?" Sharon mouthed, but Darcy waved her off.

"Are you shitting me?" she asked Violet. Another pause. "Okay, yeah, I guess that makes sense. . . I mean I haven't been up there in a while but I've got a maintenance crew. . . Yeah, sure. I'll get some balls rolling here and shoot you an email. Sure, sure. Hey, you're the one who has to pack." She glanced a them. "Okay, I have four people staring at me I better explain. . . At least four. Bye.”

“Darcy?” Clint asked.

"Um. The Wakandan crew are moving to Ithaca.”

Sharon put her hands over her mouth, and Lani asked, “All of them?”

"That's what she said. Neil is going to Cornel this fall and was originally gonna come alone but decided he wanted Vi and Bruce to come out. When they talked to the others they all were apparently thinking about coming back too. So." She shrugged and rubbed Emma's back. "I gotta get Avengerville back up and running.”

“It was nice,” Clint said. “When we lived there.”

"It was," Sharon agreed. “Peaceful."

“It was also awkwardly inaccessible and full of snow,” Lani said. “If we’re reminiscing.”

"I'm with her," Darcy said. "There was only one Starbucks and going to the mall was an expedition.”

“It was nice the couple times I was up there,” Raf said, not having much of a reference.

"It's a good place to vacation," Darcy conceded. "But living there is a particular way of life that just isn't for me.”

Lani went to get coffee after that, and the rest of them did some more work. Clint took an armload of files home with him that evening so Nat could take a look at them.

“You will never believe what I heard today,” he told her over dinner.

"You're pregnant," she replied in a dead pan, slathering a roll with butter.

“Funny. But almost as crazy. The Wakanda crew is coming home.”

She looked up. "Wait. Seriously?”

“Neil is going to Cornell and apparently wanted his family to be stateside. So the _whole_ family decided to tag along.”

"Huh." She took a moment to take a bite and chew before adding. "It'll be nice to have the twins closer again. I haven't seen Wanda's little ones since they were newborn.”

He watched her a moment. “Do you ever miss it? The compound?”

She tilted her head thoughtfully. "I do. The garden was nice. And I loved our house. When we bugged out for the Accords we said we'd be back someday. But it's been a decade now.”

“You know, I spend most of my life assuming I’d die with my boots on, which is looking increasingly unlikely. I never gave much thought to retirement. But here I am, turning 55.”

"Still looking hot, old man," she teased with a smile.

“I’m just saying. A lawn to yell at kids to get off would be nice.”

Her brows lifted. "You wanna retire upstate?”

“It has a certain appeal.” 

She seemed to consider it, eating the last few bites of her dinner and leaning back in her chair. "The team is as trained as they're ever going to be. It's probably past time to start stepping away.”

“We’re looking at recruiting even younger people. The kids aren’t kids anymore. They’re totally grown. Getting married, having kids. They should mentor the new kids.” He paused. “Plus I really am not enjoying going on missions.”

With a groan, she said, "God, yeah. We're officially too old for this shit.”

“I never did get that goat.”

"No goat.”

He laughed. “Fine. But I am going to buy more flannel shirts.”

"I find your terms acceptable. But we should probably have a chat with the others. I'll bet you two chickens that we're not the only ones thinking along these lines.”

“If I had to guess—Rogers and Barnes, yes, Wilsons and Bennetts, no.”

"Sounds about right. Amanda and Sharon can do their jobs just about anywhere. And the boys _are_ over a hundred.”

“Well, they definitely need lawns to tell kids to get off of.”

"Absolutely." Nat stood and started gathering their plates to take to the sink. "Hey, FRIDAY? Could you call a group meeting with Rogers, Barnes, Bennets and Wilsons for sometime tomorrow.”

“Right away,” she replied.

"Thank you." She glanced back at Clint. "You worried about being away from Kate?”

“We can wait until after the baby is born. Help them get back on their feet. After that-” He rested against the counter beside the sink. “We’re going to Ithaca, not Wakanda. We’ll be around plenty. We’ll be those fun grandparents with the awesome yard.”

"I suppose every kid needs a grandparent's house to visit.”

“See? We’re doing a service.”

He helped her clean up and they settled in the living room. "I want a garden.”

She leaned against him and he put his arm around her. “I want a dog. I’m going to miss Lucky.”

"I like dogs." Curling her legs up, she leaned on him. "I never thought I'd retire.”

“We’ve outlived our usefulness. It’s better than the ice floe.”

"Mmm. You know how I feel about cold.”

He kissed the top of her head. “I promise to always keep you warm.”


	2. The Taschengreggers and the Barneses

When they had initially moved to Wakanda it had been in a frantic rush. They had barely had time to think, let alone dither over what to take or how to pack. Also, Wanda and Zev had been young and childless and he, at least, had been in school and used to moving regularly. It had been a shock, suddenly living in a new country, but the moving itself hadn't been that bad,

Now, however, they had five kids and a houseful of memories to somehow pack away in an orderly manner. She didn't know how people without telekinesis and super speed did it.

_I’m excited and sad at the same time,_ Zev told her, even though he didn’t need to. After all these years they were permanently in each other’s heads. She’d spent the day floating things while Pietro zipped around. Zev’s job had been to keep the kids out of the way.

_Me, too. I think it's a good decision. But there are a lot of memories here._

_I’ll miss it._ He looked over at her. _Do you think we’ll all miss sharing a house?_ Their old house at the compound wasn’t big enough to accommodate eleven people, so Pietro and Ora and their girls would be moving into the house next door that had once belonged to Thor and Jane—who spent most of their time on Asgard these days.

_We'll be in shouting distance. And the kids will all play in the center yard. It'll be nice to have space to spread out._ She gave him a sly smile. _And our room on the third floor._

He chuckled. _I’d hate to traumatize our kids, in a house not made of stone._ He reached out and rapped his knuckles on the wall of their bedroom.

_Oh, they're old enough to know the birds and bees._

_That’s what makes it so traumatic._

She laughed and shook her head. _It will be nice to see the others. I was worried it would be lonely, just our three little families surrounded by empty houses. But with the Rogers and Barnes and Bartons it will be like old times._

_Maybe even the Starks, if Ruby wins her campaign to go to high school in the US._

_I will feel better if Amanda and I can keep our eyes on him._

He rubbed her back. _It will be good. All we have to do is survive this week._

_That is still in question._

Much like the move out, and when half of them returned to New York ten years ago, belongings were loaded into shipping containers, and the containers were loaded onto a cargo plane. It was a different one, this time. Tony had upgraded. There was a cabin atop the plane, where seven adults, nine children, one teenager and one android—Ada and Vision came to help her parents pack—would spend a 12 hour flight.

It was a very, very long flight, even with in flight entertainment and naps. Wanda had never been so happy to see upstate New York in her life.

The compound was busy, full of trucks and cars and people. Some of the houses were being renovated to accommodate expanded families. The planned pool that had never been installed before they had to flee was finally getting dug. 

When the vans carrying them came to a stop, her brother exploded out of the car so fast he nearly took the door off, his daughter on his heels. She watched their blurs streak across the huge central lawn as the other children rushed to join them.

"It's probably best if they're out of our hair," Ora commented, squinting after the blurs.

Wanda smiled. "Happy to be home?”

She smiled. “Yeah. Though I’ll miss the weather.”

From her other side Neil, the instigator of all this, commented, “I seriously underestimated how loud it would be with all these people here.” Neil wasn’t great with vocal nuance, and his tone was often hard to read. But Wanda could feel he meant it with affection. One of the reasons she and Neil got on so well is she could always tell what he meant, even if it didn’t quite come out right.

"It will get quieter once everyone settles in," she offered. He nodded, and hefted his bag before heading for the Banner house.

_I kind of like the chaos,_ Zev told her.

Her brows went up. _I'm very happy to hear that._

He grinned. _Hey, they’re all perfectly silent to me._

_You do have that advantage,_ she agreed. _It's just the chaos may be getting a little more crowded in a few months._ As she sent the thought, she unlocked the little corner of her mind where she hid things from him. It was mostly reserved for Christmas and birthday present information and other surprises.

_Don’t tell me more of them are moving up from. . ._ He trailed off and turned to stare at her. His thoughts were startled blank, but he signed, “Seriously?”

She shrugged and signed, “Oops?"

He laughed and shook his head. “Okay. Six is a nice round number of kids. My Orthodox uncle would be proud.”

"Esther has been insisting we need another girl to make it even.”

“Come here.” He held out his arms for her.

She stepped close, tucking herself into his chest. _Happy?_

_I am._ He kissed the top of her head. _Maybe after we talk about permanent birth control?_

_It will be my first conversation with Doc, I promise._

*

Amanda’s equipment had moved from the Tower to Ithaca to Wakanda and back to the Tower. But much of it didn’t come back to Ithaca with her, because now it was Tess’s equipment. It was kind of bittersweet, but it did mean she got to buy a lot of new equipment. Enough that it prompted Tony to text her, _You’ll outlive me, so you’re going to be the one who has to explain to Ruby and the boys that you spent their inheritance._

_With this equipment I can work on the Project Lazarus we've been bouncing around._ She and Tony had a long-running joke about which up them would figure out immortality first. Him with cybernetics and her with medicine. 

_We probably shouldn’t keep joking about that. Enough of M’Bata’s research about Kamala gets out and we’ll have armageddon._ She supposed Tony would know about accidentally almost causing armageddon. 

Research did indicate that the accident that made gave Kamala her powers might be reproducible through vibranium injections. Research also indicated that, like with the underdeveloped serum that had made Eli’s grandfather, _most_ of the people would die horrible deaths in the attempt.

_I'll be content if you just up load my consciousness into a computer like that creepy Hydra scientist Steve ran into._

_No way. Base human emotions don’t come along. Without them you’d be a supervillain._

She grinned. _Finally!_

"Stop plotting with Stark," James said from the doorway.

"I could be plotting with anyone.”

“You think I can’t tell you face after all these years?”

Smiling, she tucked her phone away and wrapped her arms around him. "We were only plotting a little.”

Feet came pounding down the stairs in the hall, and then Edie yelled, “Mo-om!”

Heaven save her from teenage girls. "Yes, dumpling?”

She marched into the living room. “Can I repaint my room? It looks like a baby’s room.”

Amanda ignored the little pang she felt. She and James had painted that one weekend, before they'd moved up the first time. That was a decade ago, she reminded herself. "Sure. What color are you thinking?”

“Maybe really dark red?”

She had a sudden image of some sort of bordello. "Why don't we head to town and go to the hardware store. They'll have samples and we can try some out. Maybe uncle Steve could draw a mural or something.”

Edie grinned. “Okay!” Sometimes, there was a still some Little Girl in there.

"Otherwise you're happy?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I did have to leave all my friends, and no longer live in the greatest city in the world.” 

All in all, Edie had been pretty chill about the move. But it was a rather drastic change for a thirteen year old. "Not all of your friends. Ruby will be moving in.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m down here being snarky instead of crying into my pillow.”

"I'm very proud you're making the distinction." She leaned over and kissed her daughter's forehead. "Why don't you go over and see if Ruby wants to come pick out a paint color too. Then we'll go into town and I'll soothe your woes with retail therapy.”

“That sounds awesome.”

"I know you well." Edie went running off and Amanda sighed. "I do feel bad, uprooting them."

“Roger seems in love with how much space there is,” James offered.

"Well, his best friends are the Rogers boys, so it's a bit less of a shock."

“They will be fine. Fresh air is good for them.”

"You're sounding more like a man from the thirties every minute."

“This place brings out my inner old fart and Barton’s country yokel.”

She laughed and kissed him, letting him sway her a little bit. "I'm going to go spoil our daughter," she murmured. "But I'm looking forward to rechristening the house with you later."

He grinned. “That will definitely scare the Old Man side away.”

"I thought so."


	3. The Bennets and the Rogerses

"I hate everything. I hate all my friends. People in general. Buildings. Floor plans. Walls. The city of New York."

Cal paused in the doorway to his wife's office. "So this is a bad time then."

She was glaring at schematics hovering above her desk. "Depends. Are you here to add to my misery or put me out of it?”

“It think probably the former?”

Her sigh was worthy of one of their daughters in its drama. "What do you need?”

“Justin quit this morning.”

"What did you do?”

Cal crossed his arms over his chest. “Told him he couldn’t have a Big Gulp in the server room.” Justin, his now-former assistant, had been one of the most entitled human beings Cal had ever met. And Cal spent Christmas with Tony Stark. 

"Okay, yeah." She tucked her fingers under her glasses and pressed her eyes. "So you need a new minion?”

“I do. But we can definitely talk about it tomorrow.” He came further into her office. It was hard to tell what her hologram was of. “You reconfiguring apartments again?”

"Yeah. With the others moved out, the newbies starting families and the growing list of potential recruits I'm going to need to make sure everyone has the space they need and that we have some empty apartments to spare.”

He sat in on of her chairs. “Can we make ours bigger?”

Bracing her chin on a fist she dead-panned, "You're pregnant.”

“Hey, maybe it’ll be a boy this time.”

"It would almost have to be. And yes, it can be bigger. I've had very personal conversations with everyone trying to determine who's planning more kids. The Wilsons and Kahn's are looking into fostering so they want more space. So our current floor will be just us three. Then everyone else is getting slightly shuffled to give more space here and there. Then I'm eating two more floors to get some empty apartments.”

“Wow. How many people are they bringing on?”

"Clint's current short list is five, and we still have two boxes of files to go to. Plus Doc and Tess are looking to get a second medical person, at least." She flicked her fingers and made the schematic twirl. "Cap and Kate said the goal is redundancy, no single points of failure. Two is one and one is none.”

He grinned at her. “You are speaking to my very soul.”

"Yeah, I thought you'd like that." She waved a hand and her table went dark. "Any reason you want a bigger place? Or just on principle?”

“I am slightly jealous of the amount of space they have up in Ithaca.”

"Yeah, I can see that. I can probably swing us a play room and an office or something." She stood and came around her desk. "Honey want a man cave?”

“Man Cave feels like the kind of thing men who watch Football and drink beer have.”

"I'm sure you can drink soda and shoot aliens in them too.”

“I could call it my game room. No—my _Arcade_.”

"Yes. Perfect." She kissed him and he tucked his arms around her. "Ready to face the horde?”

“The funny thing is I can’t tell if you’re talking about the team, or our children.”

"They're basically interchangeable at this point.”

“Except for the diapers.” He paused. “I hope.”

She chuckled. "Yeah. That's a hard no."

*

"General, I promise, this move will not change anything. Ithaca has the same internet and phones as I did in the Tower."

"I wasn't under the impression you'd moved to Mars, Mrs. Rogers."

Sharon stifled a sigh, pinning her phone to her shoulder as she slathered peanut butter onto bread. "I know, but I mean it _literally_ has the telecommunications set up. Designed and implemented by the same people. I will be just as in touch as I always was."

"And do we still have a contact in the Tower?"

She would not curse out the five star general old enough to be her father. She just wouldn't. "For now, it's Kate Bishop as she's still on light duty. When that changes, we'll make an announcement.”

“I just don’t know about this,” he muttered. She watched Steve walk through the kitchen carrying a box toward the pantry, holding a boxcutter between his teeth like a knife.

"I know change is scary, General, but I'm sure we'll manage." She'd promised nothing about snarking a five star general. "Now, if there's nothing else. . .?”

“Not at the moment, no.” He managed to sound like that was her fault, somehow.

Steve had emerged from the pantry by the time she managed to hang up. “I set them loose on the bubble wrap.”

"Ah," she sighed. "That will buy us some time.”

He came close enough to scoop some peanut butter out of the jar. “I like that the set up here is good enough for Pepper to run a large corporation, but apparently not good enough for government bureaucrats who can barely handle a typewriter.”

"I really do think this is at least 80% change is scary. You know how old people are.”

“I do. I am an old person.”

"I know. It's why I said it.”

“Daaaaaaad!” Came a whine from the living room. 

Steve sighed and pointed at her. “Hold that thought. Actually, did you get the sandwiches, they’re probably hungry.”

She gestured to the counter. "Just need to add the jelly.”

“I will go remind them patience is a virtue.” He stopped, and looked around the kitchen. They’d helped design it, and picked every fixture and finish—like the rest of the house. He’d muttered for years about missing it. “I keep seeing the day we brought Joey home.”

Sharon chuckled a little. "There's a memory with mixed emotions.”

“I remember being certain we finally had a stable home, that we were bringing our child to.”

"Things never quite work out the way we think they will, do they?”

“And here we are.”

"You do like to say life is a big circle." She dolloped jelly onto the pieces of bread and started making the sandwiches. "Sometimes that's not a bad thing.”

“No, I agree. This is a good kind of circle. Returning to raise our children in the house we built.”

"We could get a dog.”

Steve tilted his head. “The boys would probably love that.”

"You require a floppy golden retriever," she told him. "I've always thought so.”

“You’re not the first person to say that,” he replied, a small frown knitting his brows.

She laughed and handed him a plate of sandwiches. "Go feed the horde, I'll come in with some drinks.”

He kissed her as he took it from her. She could hear the shrieks of joy from the living room as he brought out their lunch.


	4. The Maximoffs and the Wilsons

The strangest thing about moving back to the States, for Pietro, was that he would no longer be living in the same house as his sister. Other than a few unpleasant weeks in a Sokovian orphanage, and a few ill advised attempts by the Hydra scientists to separate them, they had lived together their entire lives. But with all of her kids, and his, and the space and privacy needs of four adults, there was no house in Avengerville who could hold them all.

So Wanda and Zev had moved into the old, original Victorian Pietro and Wanda had originally shared, and he and Ora moved into Jane and Thor's old house, right next door. They spent almost all their time in Asgard now, and had happily agreed to let them have it. If they did come down to visit, there was room in the Bennents’ house.

Moving in took a couple of days and he did a lot of running around helping. Agata helped, too, though at a more sedate pace. She was still working on stopping at speeds. It was nice to have another speedster on hand, though. He wasn't slowing down quite yet, but company was always nice.

The Foster house was just the right size for them, with three bedrooms, an open plan kitchen and family room and a little formal dining room and library they could use for "adult space." The girls were thrilled to have brand new rooms to decorate and at the prospect of going to an American school. Ora's family was making noise about visiting, or having them visit, which was also nice. The girls hadn't had much time with their _abuela_ and _abuelo_. All in all, the move was shaping up to be a really good idea. He did find he missed the chaos of all his nieces and nephews, though.

"Maybe we can build a little breezeway," he said to Ora one evening while he was washing dishes and looking out at the old house next door.

“Given the weather up here, we’d probably get more use out of a tunnel,” she said without missing a beat.

"I bet I could dig one," he teased. "Like a bunny.”

She looked at him a moment, then asked, “FRIDAY? Will that destabilize the foundation of either house?”

"This close to the lake, it is a distinct possibility. However, I can send Mrs. Bennet a request to look into connecting the houses."

Ora looked over at him. “The kids would probably like it.”

"It could be like a joint clubhouse," he agreed. "Send the request," he told FRIDAY. "Darcy can hate me.”

“She did say we could modify this house however we need.”

"She probably wasn't picturing secret tunnels.”

“I don’t know, she’s worked with this crowd a long time.”

That was a good point. He finished the last dish and dried his hands before going over to join her at the table. "How are you doing?”

“Good. I reserve the right to change my mind when the weather changes.”

"Maybe we should expand the tunnels to all the houses. You'd have to go out less.”

“Okay, that might kill Darcy.” She chuckled and shook her head. “Are you happy to be back?”

He considered. "I am. I liked Wakanda, but this feels like home, if that makes sense.”

“We were always visitors over there. I mean they made us feel welcome, but we were still very foreign.”

"Yes." She always knew what he meant. "I'm glad we can raise the kids here. They can play with all their cousins, get their bat mitzvahs. Visit the Tower.”

She smiled fondly. “Life with you is always an adventure.”

"That's why you picked me, yeah? Tired of your boring school teacher ways.”

“I picked you because I wanted to see you naked. The rest is happenstance.” 

He chuckled. "Funny how it all turns out, isn't it?”

She was quiet a moment, and sounded kind of serious when she said, “There’s something I’ve been thinking about.”

It was impossible to hear those words and not feel a little tremor of dread. "What is it?”

“This is our house. We don’t share it with any other adults. There are no rules deferring to sibling weirdness.”

“Yeeees?"

“This is our god damn kitchen and we can have sex on this table if we want to.”

He loved that she said it like someone might swoop in and stop them. "You're right," he said solemnly. "In fact, I think it's our duty to do so.”

“This. This is why I married you.”

*  
 _Some months later_

"I'm starting to think I should break down an contact a proper profiler," Lani told Sam when she heard him moving around in the living room.

She had spent the last several weeks elbow deep in files and background checks, helping with Operation Balanced Party, as Darcy had taken to calling their recruitment efforts. She was now doing final checks on a short stack of prospects Clint wanted to start contacting in person. It wasn't the most intellectually engaging work and a dull headache was starting to form behind her eyes. 

He appeared in the doorway of her small home office. “Like the kind that find serial killers?”

"Yes." She waved a hand at the stack of files. "Way too many of these have 'mercenary' in their job history for my comfort level.”

Sam shrugged. “Might as well sell the skill you have.”

She turned to give him a look. “Seriously?"

“I’m just saying.”

"I suppose if we don't add some people with questionable pasts my job might get boring." She hovered away from her desk. "Clint and Kate are going out tomorrow to meet a few of them. Should be interesting.”

“I trust Clint’s instincts,” Sam said.

That was a good point. He'd yet to be wrong. "And Kate is even pickier than I am.”

Over their heads FRIDAY said, "Dr. Wilson, the front desk would like to speak with you."

Glancing up in surprise, Lani told her to go ahead.

Rachel, the front desk admin, was generally unflappable. You had to be to work in the Tower. But when her voice came over the speaker she sounded nervous. "Um, Lani? There's someone here who wants to join the team. Darcy's out and I know you're working on recruitment. . ."

"We're not exactly accepting resumes," she said.

"I know but. . . I _really_ think you should come down here."

Lani arched a brow at Sam, who nodded. "Okay. Sam and I will be right down."

"Oh, thank God," Rachel whispered just before the connection ended.

“FRIDAY?” Sam said, concern in his voice. “What the hell is in the lobby?”

“My database does not contain enough information to adequately process what my sensors are receiving.” 

"Is it dangerous?" Lani asked, hovering towards the front door.

"It does not appear to me." There was a pause. "It complimented Rachel on her manicure.”

“Notify security anyway,” Sam said as they went into the hall.

They rode the elevator down in silence, then cautiously went into the lobby. Sam had insisted on going ahead of her, which was silly because her chair actually had more weapons than he was currently carrying. Still, it made him feel better, so she didn't fuss.

She did make an annoyed noise when he stopped abruptly and she had to throw herself to the left to keep from ramming him. She was about to tease him when she followed his gaze to what he was staring at. And understood exactly what FRIDAY had meant about not being able to process her information.

"Sam," she said slowly. "Do you see a piece of night sky in the shape of a person standing in front of Rachel's desk?”

“That’s got to be some kind of hologram.”

Not exactly an answer, but good enough. "One that FRIDAY can't see through?”

The shape turned, and you could see a rather human face, her eyes and mouth glowing as if they were made of stars. “Hello,” she said. “Don’t be frightened.”

"Nothing good has ever come after that sentence," Sam muttered.

Ignoring him, Lani moved forward to greet . . . it. "Hello. I'm Lani Wilson."

It smiled, best Lani could tell, and stuck out a hand to shake hers. It felt like a hand, slightly cooler than body temperature, and very soft. "I'm Singularity. I'm really glad you're here. People are always calmer when you're around."

"Do we know each other?" Lani asked.

"Sort of. I know other yous. Not a lot. But some.”

“Other us?” Sam asked.

Singularity looked at him. “You know, your skeptical voice sounds exactly the same in every universe.”

Lani blamed the decade plus she'd spent in this madhouse for how quickly she jumped to, "You're from another universe?"

"Yes!" Singularity looked delighted. "Mine's not there any more. I've been jumping around looking for my friends. There are a lot of bad universes out there. This one seems okay, but Miss Rachel said my friends aren't here. I know a lot of the rest of you though, so I thought maybe I could stay?”

“FRIDAY, could you get Vision down here?” Sam asked.

Lani couldn't help herself. "What happened to your universe?"

Singularity drooped a little. "There was a war. A very bad one. My friends and I tried to help but. . ." Shaking her head, she finished, "It wasn't enough.”

“I’m sorry,” Lani said sincerely.

She nodded and folded her hands in front of her. "I teleported at the last minute. It was instinct. I was lonely for a long time, but it's getting easier. I would like to find somewhere to stay, though. I'm tired of traveling.”

“Have you ever worked as a mercenary?” Sam asked.

Those bright, star eyes blinked. “No."

He looked over at Lani, and said, “See?” Then he turned back to Singularity and said, “Welcome aboard.”

Another blink, then a brilliant smile. “Yay!"


End file.
